How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The reader must be very weak, if, when he considers the light in which Jones then appeared to Mr Allworthy, he should blame the rigour of his sentence. And yet all the neighbourhood, either from this weakness, or from some worse motive, condemned this justice and severity as the highest cruelty. (5.11.6)
Let's think for a second about "the light in which Jones" appears to Squire Allworthy right now. Squire Allworthy believes Tom is (a) a drunk who is (b) okay with seducing multiple women, and who (c) attacked his loyal childhood friend and his old teacher when they tried to stop him from doing such bad things. So it sounds like Squire Allworthy now sees Tom as a violent alcoholic, which is obviously horrible. However, we're not sure how we feel about the narrator's claim that we shouldn't "blame [Squire Allworthy] for the rigour of his sentence." What do you think about Squire Allworthy's decision to kick Tom out of the house for these crimes? Is it ever justifiable for a parent to throw a son or daughter out of the house, and if so, under what circumstances? Do Tom's crimes fit those circumstances?
Quote #5
In these Mrs Western herself began to talk to [Sophia] in a more peremptory stile than before: but her father treated her in so violent and outrageous a manner, that he frightened her into an affected compliance with his will; which so highly pleased the good squire, that he changed his frowns into smiles, and his menaces into promises. […]
Instances of this behaviour in parents are so common, that the reader, I doubt not, will be very little astonished at the whole conduct of Mr Western. If he should, I own I am not able to account for it; since that he loved his daughter most tenderly, is, I think, beyond dispute. So indeed have many others, who have rendered their children most completely miserable by the same conduct; which, though it is almost universal in parents, hath always appeared to me to be the most unaccountable of all the absurdities which ever entered into the brain of that strange prodigious creature man. (7.9.12-3)
We're glad that the narrator addresses this issue, because we have been wondering for the last, like, three books: how can Squire Western behave so cruelly towards Sophia when he keeps saying that he loves her so much? As soon as Sophia shows any signs of feelings and wishes separate from her father's, he turns against her violently. Our question is, can we still say that Squire Western "loved his daughter most tenderly?" If Squire Western does love her, than how can he be such a jerk to her? If Squire Western doesn't truly love Sophia, than why does he seem so attached to her?
Quote #6
"When I had got clear of the city, it first entered into my head to return home to my father, and endeavour to obtain his forgiveness; but as I had no reason to doubt his knowledge of all which had past, and as I was well assured of his great aversion to all acts of dishonesty, I could entertain no hopes of being received by him, especially since I was too certain of all the good offices in the power of my mother; nay, had my father's pardon been as sure, as I conceived his resentment to be, I yet question whether I could have had the assurance to behold him, or whether I could, upon any terms, have submitted to live and converse with those who, I was convinced, knew me to have been guilty of so base an action." (8.12.2)
Fielding's portrayal of good family ties in Tom Jones is surprisingly complex. On the one hand, lots of our characters gain comfort from their families: consider the Man on the Hill's reunion with his father or Tom's attachment to Squire Allworthy. But on the other hand, even the best and kindest of these family relationships are still based on judgment. It's because the Man on the Hill loves his father so much that he doesn't want to see him after he has barely dodged jail for theft. Family love makes the Man on the Hill feel ashamed where nothing else does. And that shame keeps the Man on the Hill away from the family home that might help him for two years. Why do you think the Man on the Hill feels so much particular shame at the thought of his father?